Texting Drivers

My boys Elias and Caleb and I are at indoor baseball practice at the Lehigh Valley Baseball Academy. This is a trip we take every week at least 2-3 times throughout the winter. In fact, I have driven the same way so many times it almost a brainless act that does not require much thinking. Yesterday and today were different.

We travel down Airport Road to get to Union Blvd just past the Lehigh Valley International Airport. There is a lot of construction going on because of a new high end mall going in near the intersection of Airport Road and Route 22. Yes.... there is a NEW mall being constructed in the midst of these horrible financial time, but I digress and don't want to steal the thunder from CNN or MSNBC.

Anyway, as we are going down the road there is a small (economicall efficiant and I am sure environmentally sound) car in front of me that is weaving horribly across the white lines of this two lane section of road. This is not good as the road is very torn up and the lines are out of wack and difficult to navigate even in good weather. As we started to gain on this car I had to slow to a crawl. My boys and I were trying to see if the driver was hurt or suffering from some ailment (I figured the driver was drunk) so I came as close as I could without impeeding or getting in the way. This went on for about a mile and the driver continued weaving and driving 15 miles under the limit.

We were approachingthe stop light at Catasauqua Road and 22 and I thought for sure the driver in front would go right through the red light and cause an accident. I was surprised when the car brakes light then went on and the the car actually chose a lane. The car then stopped at the light so I pulled into the lane next to it to see if everything was ok. When I stopped and rolled my window down and looked over into the car I was furious to see that the driver was not an elderly person who might be ill or suffering, it was a young lady who was texting!!! This was the 2nd time in two days I could have been run off the road with my kids in the car because someone was more interested in their texting than watching the road!

What is wrong with people! Ask my friends and they will tell you that I am about as techie as you can get for a Realtor, I love technology and all of the wonderful things it has done for me, my business and society in general. I will use technology at any level I can to make my job easier, run our business more efficiently, market our listings more effectively and thousande or other things. We need to remember though that technology will never replace common sense.